St. Joseph Regional Medical Center (SJRMC) is dedicated to improving care provided at their facility, and SJRMC also understands the impact patients and families can make in a healthcare system.

The SJRMC Patient Experience Team was inspired by several, well-developed hospitals in Seattle, WA, and followed their examples to create a Patient Family Advisory Committee (PFAC).

The team shared their vision with hospital leadership to launch this special project and to make the community a part of the hospital’s culture and mission. The project was quickly approved, and two years ago, SJRMC established a partnership with the PFAC to provide guidance on how to increase patient engagement, advance clinical quality and improve the overall patient experience.

The PFAC represents the voice of the patient and their families, and the committee itself is made up of community leaders and former patients who have been served at SJRMC and can provide useful insights and perspectives that are helpful to SJRMC in making practice changes and improvements.

The goal of the PFAC is not only for volunteers to be great ambassadors for the hospital but also to act as the “eyes and ears of the world” to provide valuable feedback to better serve the Lewiston community.

From television advertisements, to brochure copy, to billing statements, the PFAC gives input on a variety of SJRMC touch points to ensure that the messaging will be well received by patients and others in the community.

While creating groups like this does not happen overnight, the time spent developing relationships and investing time and resources into the PFAC has proved itself as invaluable to the growth and quality improvement at SJRMC.